Israel's average family has the stereotypical 2.4 children, and enjoys dining out. And - according to data published Thursday by the Central Bureau of Statistics, a day ahead of national Family Day - spends the most money on housing, transport, phones and food.

Approximately one third of the country's families live in six major cities with a population of at least 200,000 inhabitants, including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Ashdod. According to the report, Jerusalem has the highest percentage of families with children under the age of 17; Tel Aviv has the greatest ratio of childless couples, and Ashdod has the highest percentage of single-parent households.

Tel Aviv has the highest proportion of childless couples (32 percent of those in Israel) and the lowest percentage of couples with children under the age of 17 (39 percent of those in Israel).

The CBS found that there were 1,870,000 families in Israel in 2012, compared to 1,500,000 families in 2000. There are on average 3.72 members in the Israeli family, and about half of those families comprise two parents and children under the age of 17. There are also some 114,000 single-parent households with children under the age of 17 - about 6 percent of all families in Israel.

Some 16 percent of the single-parent mothers are not in a relationship, while 96 percent of couples in families are married, with the rest unmarried but cohabiting.

One third of Arab families consist of six people or more – more than three times the percentage of Jewish families with the same number of people (9.6 percent of Jewish families). The area with the highest average of people per family is Judea and Samaria (with 4.6 people per family) – almost 1.5 times more people per family than in the Tel Aviv district.

About 2.46 million children under the age of 17 live with their own families. Most of them (92 percent) live with two parents and the rest in single-parent homes. In 2012, families with children under the age of 17 consisted of 2.4 children per household. The average number of Arab families with four or more children under the age of 17 is more than twice the rate in Jewish families.

An average family

According to the statistics, households spent a monthly average of NIS 14,273 on goods and service in 2012. Households with children spent more of their monthly expenditure (16.7 percent) on food, compared to the monthly amount spent by households without children (15.5%). Households without children, however, spent more money each month on health than households with children.

The CBS also found that two-child households and households without children spend one-fifth of their monthly expenditure on transportation and communication. Households with two children, the report says, spend the most money on mobile phone expenses.

Both families with and without children spend most of their money on housing. Transportation and communication come second on the list of expenditures, with food ranking in third place in terms of amounts spent.

The average monthly expenditure chart shows that households without children spend on average NIS 326.3 per month on eating out, NIS 252.2 per month on mobile phones and NIS 112.7 per month on cigarettes.

This number jumps slightly for households with up to two children, who spend NIS 411.3 on mobile phones, NIS 402.1 on eating out and NIS 140.6 on cigarettes.